As night fell, campers built fires and gathered to cook and socialize. After spending the day looking out at the vast expanse of the Pacific, the flickering fires focused our attention on the beach with the roar of the waves reminding us of the vast ocean expanse.

A couple of days after returning from Cannon Beach, Sunshine, Rich, and I traveled along the Columbia to Multnomah Falls, the most visited attraction in Oregon. The 611-foot wide falls drops down a cliff in giant steps on the north side of Larch Mountain.

The trees in Oregon are much different than the trees in Wisconsin. They're bigger . . .
















and because of the significant rain fall, they're often covered in moss.

The Benson Bridge, which was built in 1925, provides incredible views of both sections of Multnomah Falls.

If the falls were not such a tourist destination, swimming in the pool below the first falls would be fun, especially in late July.

Another shot of that inviting pool.

Multnomah Falls is the second highest vertical drop in the United States.

On our last day in Oregon, we drove to Mount Hood. From the distance, we had a pretty good view of the entire peak, but as we drove closer, we would catch glipses between the forest and the foothills.

Timberline Lodge was used for the exterior shots in the Kubrick film, The Shining. The enormous scale of the lodge drawfs visitors much like the terrain outside its windows dwarfs everything else.

Although we were at Timberline Lodge in late July, the snow was deep enough for snowboarding.

We traveled toward Sea-Tac again for yet another "red-eye" flight--this time from Seattle to Minneapolis.

Midsummer Night's Dream at the Gutherie!

One must simply LOVE the architecture of the new Gutherie! Scary at times, though!
















The views are spectacular!

Midsummer Night's Dream at the Guthrie!

The new Gutherie sits right on the river in Minneapolis. When we went to see a Midsummer Night's Dream on May 10, the weather was gorgeous--at least to start!

Before the play, we ate at a restaurant on the property. The food was delightful! Ask me about the polenta!














Driving home, of course, per the norm, the weather turned foul! We maintained our spirits, however, by recapping the play and singing.

Some of us were extremely happy!

New Roof?

Really, we didn't even notice that the shingles looked like this. It's not often that I "hoof it" over the roof.

The sad state of the shingles, however, after only two years of our living here was a complete and total bummer to us--especially when we had to find out about the issue via water "drippage" in Lauren's bedroom! Garbage! More painting, now, too!

I suppose it was lucky for us that this particular brand and "date" of shingle had already been "reported" as having deficiencies. Our roofers took pictures of the roof size and recorded the number of shingle packages necessary to replace the roof.

In the end, the leakage stopped, Rich and I both endured and chuckled about the roofers' antics, and we got a new roof. Let's hope this isn't necessary for a very, very long time. OMG! How much more must we replace?

April 28, 2008--Spring?

As we looked outside at 6 a.m. this morning, this was the sight! All of our blooming daffodils were covered!



















Apparently, the Chippewa Valley received about 4 inches of snow last night.













Looking out the patio windows was extremely strange. Because the trees are right outside our windows, it felt as if we were in the middle of a fantasy.





























Snow-covered trees muffled all sound this morning.

Here is what Harold and I saw when we went outside this morning. Although the snow is beautiful, it is also depressing because winter really needs to end.

Atop Mt. Ashwabay

Here was Hannah's and my view from atop Mt. Ashwabay. This is actually on top of Lil' Joe, Hannah's new "boyfriend." She managed this hill after about an hour and a half. Remember, this was her first time skiing. What you see here is Lake Superior and the road leading to Bayfield.


Here's Han ready to ski down Lil' Joe. Rich is a little speck at the bottom of the hill right in front of the shed.


Of course, one can't ALWAYS expect to ride the wave without taking a spill. No problem, however; Han figured out how to get up without removing her skis.


More fun on Lil' Joe! Good thing it started warming up! Then again, conditions became icier.

Mt. Ashwabay, Bayfield, WI

We started out on the bunny hill with a rope tow to practice turns and heel pressure. Not too much later, though, we moved over to the T-bar to go for some longer runs.


After Han figured out her position to get up after she fell, she was much happier to try bigger and better things. "Lil' Joe" became her favorite for the day.


Occasionally, we took breaks--for tomato basil soup, chili, and hot chocolate.